Still Me is out tomorrow, 1/30/18!
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Jojo Moyes, a new book featuring her iconic heroine of Me Before You and After You, Louisa Clark
Louisa Clark arrives in New York ready to start a new life, confident that she can embrace this new adventure and keep her relationship with Ambulance Sam alive across several thousand miles. She steps into the world of the superrich, working for Leonard Gopnik and his much younger second wife, Agnes. Lou is determined to get the most out of the experience and throws herself into her new job and New York life.
As she begins to mix in New York high society, Lou meets Joshua Ryan, a man who brings with him a whisper of her past. Before long, Lou finds herself torn between Fifth Avenue where she works and the treasure-filled vintage clothing store where she actually feels at home. And when matters come to a head, she has to ask herself: Who is Louisa Clark? And how do you reconcile a heart that lives in two places?
Funny, romantic, and poignant, Still Me follows Lou as she navigates how to stay true to herself, while pushing to live boldly in her brave new world.
My Review:
Still Me is the third book in author Jojo Moyes’ Me Before You Series and if you’ve read the series thus far, and you’ve been waiting to catch up with our gal Louisa, this is your chance.
It’s in this book that Louisa is really faced with finding out who she is…who she truly is and who she wants to be. It’s safe to say her life’s journey hasn’t been an easy one and her new adventure in New York City will prove to have its own set of ups and downs. But man, what a special chapter in her life this books ends up being.
When Louisa starts her job as an “assistant” of sorts to an uber wealthy, young, second wife socialite, she figured it would be a refreshing change of pace. Reading her optimistic and awestruck view of high society was almost like watching a horror film. You know, when the girl is going to look in the basement and you scream at the TV telling her to just run out of the house. Yeah, that. This family runs hot and cold, always showing a hint of dysfunction simmering beneath the surface, but Louisa always tries to look on the bright side of her situation and takes it all with a grain of salt. Until one day she finds herself in quite a pickle. Things come crashing down quickly, like that girl from the horror movie who ended up checking out the basement (except not life-ending or gory). It’s then, when all the chips are down, Louisa really shines and I wanted to hoot and holler for her and the path she finally put herself on. I do believe I actually said “atta girl!” out loud a few times!
Of course, the book doesn’t just focus on her employers. The other characters in this book were just as fabulous. Form the warm-hearted doorman and his wife, to the old curmudgeon and her dog named Dean Martin living down the hall who eventually becomes someone irreplaceable in Louisa’s life, I adored them all. Well, except one. I’ll let you figure out who that is on your own and I have a feeling you’ll feel the same way I did about him by the end of the book.
There were so many ups and downs and more than a few times I felt myself not sure of which direction I would go if I were in Louisa’s shoes. Who could she really trust and rely on in this brand new world she was living in? Who would appreciate her for just being her? Thankfully, after some serious soul-searching and more than a few tears (more mine than hers – because she’s a tough cookie) she gets it all squared away and I could not be happier with how it ended. Man, that last page was everything! *dreamy sigh*
Overall I think fans of the series will love picking up with the endearing, quirky, kindhearted Louisa and will enjoy this newest tale. I know I sure did! (Oh, and you won’t need as many tissues as the other books but you’ll still need some!)
Thank you, Ms. Moyes, for a wonderful read.
Four-and-a-Half Loves
Book Links:
About the author:
Jojo Moyes w
as born in 1969 and grew up in London. After a varied career including stints as a minicab controller, typer of braille statements for blind people for NatWest, and brochure writer for Club 18-30, she did a degree at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, London University. In 1992, she won a bursary financed by The Independent newspaper to attend the postgraduate newspaper journalism course at City University.
Jojo worked as a journalist for ten years, including a year at South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, and nine at The Independent where she worked variously as News Reporter, Assistant News Editor and Arts and Media Correspondent.
Jojo has been a full time novelist since 2002, when her first book, Sheltering Rain was published. Since then she has written a further eleven novels, all of which have been widely critically acclaimed.
Jojo has won the Romantic Novelist’s Award twice, and Me Before You has been nominated for Book of the Year at the UK Galaxy Book Awards. Me Before You has since gone on to sell over 8 million copies worldwide.
The film adaptation of Me Before You starring Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games) and Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) was released in June 2016 and was a huge box-office success. The screenplay was written by Jojo.
For more information about all of Jojo’s novels, please visit the books page here.
Jojo lives (and writes!) on a farm in Essex, England with her husband, journalist Charles Arthur, and their three children.
Visit her WEBSITE for more information
Awesome review jillian!!! Shared on all my socials!